What does languish mean?
Word: Languish
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Languish means to stay in a poor state for a long time, growing weaker or making no progress.
Antonyms: thrive
How do you spell languish?
Syllables: lan - guish
Tricky part: After the ng sound you hear a w, but no w is written: that sound is spelt with a u, which pupils replace with w or leave out.
Watch out for: langwish, langish, lanwish
Memory tip: A penguin has the same gw sound, spelt g then u. Picture one shuffling along slowly, making no progress.
Languish in a sentence
Example 1: Without a good coach, her talent for chess began to languish.
Example 2: The old library project languished for years until the town found the money.
Example 3: Our team languished in seventh place for most of the tournament.
Fun Fact
It reached English through Old French from a Latin verb meaning 'to be weak or faint'. Today it is used for things as well as people: plans, talents and teams can all languish.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
l_ngu_sh
a) a, i
b) u, i
c) e, i
d) a, e
Show answer
a) a, i. The opening vowel matches the one in language, and the end of the word matches finish.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
A good idea can niluahgs for years if no one is willing to try it out.
a) lavish
b) vanish
c) anguish
d) languish
Show answer
d) languish. Lavish lacks a g, anguish lacks an l and vanish lacks both.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word languish as used in the sentence:
Mango saplings languish in poor, stony soil.
a) wither
b) droop
c) fade
d) flourish
Show answer
d) flourish. Wither, droop and fade all describe a plant doing badly; flourish means growing well.
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt and three are spelt correctly. Choose what the misspelt word means.
1. abolish 2. languish 3. publish 4. distingush
a) to print a book and offer it for sale
b) to recognise the difference between two things
c) to end a law or system officially
d) to stay stuck for a long time without getting better
Show answer
b) to recognise the difference between two things. Distinguish has lost the i before its sh.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A football team has languished at the bottom of the table all season. How has it been doing?
a) losing most games and not climbing
b) winning nearly all of its home matches
c) changing to a new coach every month
d) playing only friendly matches abroad
Show answer
a) losing most games and not climbing
2. A book proposal languished on an editor's desk. What happened to it?
a) it was copied for every member of staff
b) it won a prize at the city book fair
c) it was read and accepted the same day
d) it lay there for months with nothing done
Show answer
d) it lay there for months with nothing done
